BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

20 years!!! Woot! The only sad thing about this is that I didn't realize how awesome bikes are twenty years ago.

Drewbacca wrote:

The only sad thing about this is that I didn’t realize how awesome bikes are twenty years ago.

+Lots.

I totally did. Geez, forty years ago. You guys are making me feel old.

https://docs.google.com/a/bikepgh.org/forms/d/1bhWghBt0361DdNMX6wpH_No5Qu-nq3_5x5Q9ibul01w/viewform Volunteer for a free ride!

My wife and I are participating in our first PedalPGH this year. We're looking forward to it, and plan on attempting our first Metric Century rides. However, the cheapskate in me was a a bit taken back when I was going through the checkout process and discovered a 10% "Service Fee". I've grown to begrudgingly accept these hidden costs on spectator tickets, but to incur them on a participant registration, which doesn't even involve any provider interaction (print at home delivery) seems unacceptable. Is there some sort of contract situation that requires PedalPGH to use the Showclix interface? Perhaps my memory is clouded, but it seems to me that I've done online registration/payment for other events that had nowhere near that kind of surcharge, if any at all. At the very least, the fee should be noted in the ride's promo material price quotes, and if possible, perhaps an in person payment option that could circumvent it. At the end of the day, I view the registration fee as essentially a donation to BikePgh, minus the small cost of the tshirt. If BikePgh was getting an additional kickback from the service fee, I'd feel a little better, but I have a strong suspicion that this is just an instance of the fat cat provider getting fatter.

In the past I have always registered the day of at the start. Will that option still be available? I realize it makes a little more work for the volunteers the day of, but I have a combination of never being entirely sure I'm going to be able to do it/general procrastination. (Also it would avoid the third party fee and go entirely to Bike Pgh).

my mom is coming down to visit and ride in her first pedal pgh! she has been getting increasingly into cycling since i bought her a new comfort bike last summer and is now happily doing 30+ mile rides on the weekend and looking forward to car free commuting once the school year begins. she has a great blog she has started to document her journey here: http://loribecomes.blogspot.com

cburch wrote:my mom is coming down to visit and ride in her first pedal pgh! she has been getting increasingly into cycling since i bought her a new comfort bike last summer and is now happily doing 30+ mile rides on the weekend and looking forward to car free commuting once the school year begins. she has a great blog she has started to document her journey here: http://loribecomes.blogspot.com

Awesome blog! Go Mom!

Just to clear a few things up. Pre registration for the ride helps us tremendously. It is a much bigger deal that you might think. In the past as few as 100 and many as 800 riders have singed up day of for PedalPGH. You can imagine what happens when either of other extreme happen. BikePGH and any other group planning events needs a clear expectation of how many people are going to show up. We need to purchase food, drinks, medical supplies, tshirts, have the appropriate number of volunteers.... I could go on. While we try to get as many items for the ride donated as possible there are very real expenses associated with a one day event. If you pre register we are able to take out a good amount of guess work and provide you the participant with a better overall experience. That said we are still going to sign up riders the morning of PedalPGH. There is a $5 fee and we can not guarantee tshirts for you. We will sell out the event at 3,000 participants this year.

I am participating for the first time this year and am riding the 25 miler. So far, I am going it alone. Would anybody else like to ride with me? I'm friendly-ish.

@J.Str. That's great that this is your first year! Hope we get lots of other first timers AND BikePGH members. So far only about 400 members out of 2,250 up-to-date members are registered to ride. Remember, riding in PedalPGH supports our mission and all the work we do so registering to ride is a way to make sure we can continue to do the work we do in the community. The weather is looking ideal for a bike ride. Please sign up and help us raise funds for a more bike/ped friendly city!

My birthday gift to myself this year (all the way back in June) was a BikePgh Membership and a PedalPgh registration! So excited!

Those who are riding the longer routes Saturday should be aware: Bloomfield's Little Italy Days festival has been moved to this weekend this year (surprise!). The bike lanes are already blocked on most of Liberty, and over the weekend Liberty will be entirely closed between Pearl and Mathilda.

@buffalo Little Italy Days starts later in the day so it shouldn't interfere too badly with PedalPGH. We're on top of it though. Thanks.

I just want to say Kudos and Thank You to BikePgh for Pedal Pittsburgh this year. You guys did an awesome job. I was critical of last year's event on this forum, but its clear that you guys listened to everyone's feedback from last year and made things better. 1.) I have done Pedal Pittsburgh more than a 1/2 dozen times over the last 10 years. I think this year's event exceeded any other for organization. 2.) Last year I rode the Family Ride (didn't hit the roads much), this year I did the Metric Century. Aside from the rain, last year wasn't a particularly good event for my family. I am kicking myself now that we all didn't go together this year. 3.) The Chevron markings were great (not sure if this is new this year, but very welcome). 4.) I was never really able to follow the "architectural tour" that the Design Center tried to do, but it seemed obvious to me that today's ride was about showcasing bike infrastructure (safe roads, painted lanes and sharrows). Great Route. 5.) I loved the popup bike lane on Liberty Avenue! 6.) The hazard markings were great also. I don't live in the City, but if I were a resident I would call 311 and demand that they use the Pedal Pittsburgh Routes and markings as a patch plan before they start to fade with wear and rain. The city would be stupid not to piggy back on the work you guys did to quickly improve biking infrastructure (see #4 above). 7.) Great T-Shirt. Much better than the typical white shirt you get at events (especially of those of us that are laundry challenged and do not separate colors and whites). Thank you and congratulations on a great event.

+1 on all of the course markings. I never wondered where to go--every potential decision point had a marking. The hazard markings were very helpful. An amazing day on a bike, a cool tee shirt, and in support of a great organization. It doesn't get much better than that.

i really liked the route from troy hill/reserve to riverview that was new for me. +1 on all of AWallRider's comments. i liked having the gpx route loaded it. rest stops were well stocked and many. I liked the Mount Washington portion and how it led into the park this year. It was just stellar. I liked the early start time (I believe it was 7am last year). Great weather, great job. I appreciate everyone who organized it and helped it happen. Looking forward to next year.

+1 all of the above. Organization & logistics were definitely much tighter this year. The North Side portion was a really nice change. Also thanks for not sending us to Brownsville/Glass Run/Hazelwood. Slopes & Mt. Washington was challenging enough for folks to feel like they earned the longer ride for sure. Great job all, and thanks!

I was on the volunteer end of things, helping register people in the morning. Everything was really well-organized and volunteers were well taken care of. I loved the volunteer tent to chill out in after sitting in the sun. I'm so stoked that this event went so well. Awesome job!

Amazing ride, amazing day, and well worth every last penny!!! This was the first Pedal Pgh for both me and my wife, and we dived right into the Metric Century Ride. It was a great challenge for our first ever 100 km rides, even if we did cheat ourselves of the Mt. Washington experience. After a time check as we headed up towards Josephine it was decided that we'd be pushing to get to the rest stop before it closed. So we ended up riding a few off course miles around the Flats, before checking into the Finish Celebration. After an extended break there, we picked up the balance of the miles with a mostly trail ride to the incline and back. For closure, we'll have to give the Mt. Washington segment a try some other time when we're in the area with some fresher legs.

It was excellent. Did the 25 miler because I didn't feel like getting up any earlier, and I wanted to get to the end-fest before the chairs were being folded up and packed away. Which was an excellent decision. I really liked the directional chevrons, worked splendidly.

laundry challenged thanks for the new phrase, i'm using that.

Wonderful job. Probably the best Bike Pgh I have ever ridden. I also liked the new northerly route. Oh, and I would like to give a little thank you to Pittsburgh drivers today. While I saw a few instances of bad behavior, the overwhelming majority of drivers were really patient and courteous. And I know there's one cyclist out there, some dude who flagrantly ran a red on Negley and almost got pasted from BOTH sides, who should be especially grateful that those drivers were taking care. Anyway, enough about cars already. What a great day for bikes in Pittsburgh!

i will echo the sentiments of everyone else--this was a pretty fantastic ride. my lone complaint was that the fella manning the highland park rest stop was packing up as we came through at noon (with a good number of people already waiting there, and another good number coming up the hill behind us), and that a good friend of ours was manning that station earlier in the day and never bothered to tell us until after the ride! i did the 25 mile ride and i think i looked at the cue sheet about three times, and each time only to know what was supposed to be coming ahead. the route was perfectly marked, so that at any point your brain said "i'm not sure i'm supposed to be here!", there was a sign or a marking on the ground, and every time you had to decide which way to go was marked noticeably in both the chalk paint chevrons and the route signs. it was just so easy to find the route. very well done! at one point, i was biking toward liberty where i work, and knowing how awful traffic is there, i said aloud something akin to "i don't really know why they're putting us on liberty at this point", only to find the far right lane coned off for bicycles only. a very nice touch! and on a final note: i had a great time last year, and i wonder how much the positive feedback this year stems from the slight difference in the weather from last year, but i thought this whole ride was impeccably organized and planned. i had a blast the whole time.

Was fun, well organized. I am curious about the 63 mile route though: Was it routed such that it had longer sections between stop signs and lights (WRT the 25 mile route that is)? It would be awfully tedious to try and ride 60+ miles stopping and starting as much as the shorter route.

andyc wrote:Was fun, well organized. I am curious about the 63 mile route though: Was it routed such that it had longer sections between stop signs and lights (WRT the 25 mile route that is)? It would be awfully tedious to try and ride 60+ miles stopping and starting as much as the shorter route.

I don't know if the 100km route was made that way so it had longer sections between stops, but since it went out towards riverview park there were less because of the way the roads are out there. Stop signs really aren't that big of a deal I think, but there are more of them obviously.

This was my first PedalPGH as well as my first metric century and I couldn't be more pleased. The route was well thought out, well marked and everyone I fell in with during the ride was terrific. Well done, I look forward to next year.

What was the total number of riders yesterday? I saw the newspaper quote Scott at "2800 on the nose", but saw at least a handful of the blue same day registration bib numbers in the low 3000's. Out of curiosity, was there a gap between the pre-registration bib number cut off and same day registration starting point? Or just a misquote?

One comment on the route - 5th ave to Birmingham bridge to Carson was scary, the lane changes were nasty, not easy with a kid. I had my son with me on the 25 mile route and it was noon when we reached that point so the car traffic was getting lively. Not a good way to end the ride. Chevrons were great. Liberty bike lane was nice. Hazard marking team did a super job. Thankyou.

2800 people. numbers were probably taken out of order is all. We bought a lot of numbers just in case.